Joe Biden wasn't running for president,
but nobody believed him until he delivered
a long campaign-style speech to announce
that Joe Biden is "No" Biden,
and that he is still not running for president.

John Boehner resigned as House Speaker,
then agreed to stay on as House Speaker.
Paul Ryan, who has wanted to be Speaker,
said he wouldn't be Speaker,
and is now going to be the next Speaker.

And the GOP continues to pursue Hillary Clinton
in its witch-hunt / wild-goose-chase
called Whitewater, um, I mean, Benghazi.

Yesterday was the date on which
Marty McFly came back to the future,
-- and a day in which our politics
seemed to go backward toward the future
when it wasn't just going in circles.

Ponder presidents, primaries and Paul Ryan
over pints with political pals
at you local progressive social club.

The House Republicans are in disarray,
the Syrian situation in increasing discord,
and the TPP trade deal proving dismal.
But at least Dem discourse delivers a dose
different than GOP demagogues and diatribes.

Sure, there was O'Malley's malleability,
Chafee's chafing, and Webb's web of weirdness,
but the real question of the first debate:
Did you feel the Bern Burn or the Hill Thrill?

Come debate the debate with a drink in hand
as we recount, react and really enjoy ourselves
at your local progressive social club.

A gunman executed 9 victims in Oregon,
the latest massacre in an endless series,
as the crusade for guns without limits
leads to shootings that know no bounds.

Our own airstrike made senseless victims
of staff and patients of Doctors Without Borders,
a sad testament that American violence
isn't just a tragedy on our own soil.

As the Syrian conflict intensifies,
and the refugee crisis reverberates,
we're reminded that war in one region
has impact all around the globe.

We could be talking the House Speakership,
the first Dem debate, or the baseball playoffs.
But it's hard to embrace the more enjoyable news
in a week of killings without limits,
pain with no bounds, and Violence Without Borders.

If you need to get away from the news,
or get into it in a safe space of like-minded lefties,
join us for a drink and to share what you think
at your local progressive social club.